Democracy will continue to be a mirage in Nigeria unless – Tanko Yinusa

Democracy will continue to be a mirage in Nigeria unless – Tanko Yinusa

By; Bayo Akamo, Ibadan.

National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr. Tanko Yinusa, has advocated review of the Electoral Act in order to foster unity among the political parties in the country asserting that democracy will continue to be a mirage unless political inclusiveness is taken into governance.

Dr Tanko stated this while delivering a paper titled “Political interaction and national unity” at the National Conference of the Inter-Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC), with the theme “Managing inter-party relations in post election period”.

Tanko stressed that the situation in which political parties run cap in hand to the party in power for patronage will spell doom for the development of party politics. “The essence of democracy is for everybody to have a sense of belonging and that this can start from the political parties through political inclusiveness of all political parties, stakeholders in the government” he stressed.

He maintained that to continue to do this can only means that the opposition parties will be alienated from the ruling party, stressing that with political inclusiveness there will be government that is based on proportional representation among the political parties.

“Today we have about 59 political parties in the country with most of them deprived of funding such that they are forced to run to the ruling party for patronage. The only way to stop this is to have an inclusive government that will involve all the political parties which will make them to be stakeholders in the government” he said.

Speaking further, the NCP National Chairman also called for economic inclusiveness of all regions in the country, adding that “democracy will be meaningful when no Nigerian is prosecuted because of his religion, tribe or political affiliation”.

Dr Tanko added that “a united Nigeria is far better than a divided Nigeria,” saying, “one is only strong by the abilities to affect the other person positively’.

The National Chairman of IPAC, Chief Peter Ameh, while speaking noted that the national conference, the first after the last general elections, was to make the political parties more relevant in the nation’s political system, and that with the political parties knowing what is expected of them, it will bring development to democracy in the country.
Other speakers at the event included the National Chairman of the Alliance for Democracy, Chief Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa; the National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Barrister Ebere Ifeanyi and National Chairman of the Action Alliance, Mr. Tunde Kelani-Anifowoshe.